Description
The most devastating experience of God’s people in the Old Testament was the exile. But rather than being destroyed by their circumstances they emerged with a fresh understanding of God and committed to new ways of worshiping him. The Covid pandemic can be seen as our generation’s exile. Have we emerged with a fresh understanding of our faith, new ways of being and doing church, a reinvigorated commitment to the mission task?
Mission, particularly the clear proclamation of the Gospel, is the core task of the church, our response to Jesus’ Great Commission to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). We each have our part to play , learning how to sing the Lord’s song (the gospel) for our current context, which is not always entirely friendly. Every Christian community, every local church, needs to be able to sing the same song through the quality of their life together. When new people join us, we need to offer them a positive experience: comfortable facilities, meaningful worship, relevant teaching, and, above all, a genuine, warm welcome. If this isn’t part of the bed rock of our churches, any message we may proclaim will likely fall on deaf ears.